How Did The Delian League Contribute To The Formation Of Athens

The classical age of ancient Greece saw the appearance of the democratic society of Athens. Even though its formation was a tumultuous affair wrought with power struggles and revolts, the leadership of several key figures such as Cleisthenes and Themistocles allowed the city-state to become prosperous and powerful, with democracy taking center stage. In fact, the citizen rights of political, economic and individual freedom all became essential to the system of rule of the Polis. These values helped Athens flourish culturally as well as scientifically and its inhabitants even credited them for their victory over Persian forces. Roughly ten years later, the second conflict with Persia lead to the beginning of the creation of an Athenian empire.
Even though the League started off as a place where “Athenians were leaders of allies who were at first autonomous and deliberated in common meetings” (qtd. in Rhodes 20) it eventually saw “Athens taking decisions which ought to have been taken by meetings of the whole alliance” (20). Athens’ systematic tyranny over all states that rebelled from the Delian League thus began in Erythrae since it “had revolted with Persian support; Athens had recovered control, installed a garrison and had sent a commission of overseers who established a democratic constitution” (53). After, despite an end of hostilities between the Greeks and Persians, “Plutarch reports complaints that tribute which should have been spent fighting the Persians was being spent on beautifying Athens” (53). The abuse of League funds, taking of decisions without democratic consent of the alliance and forced control of other city states to stop them from leaving their empire indicate that Athens systematically undermined the democratic rights of other states and did not let other city-states make any choices that would negatively impact their
Wanting to conquer the whole of Sicily, they sent a large force to the island (Zagorin 107). This decision proved to be a fatal tactical mistake since it stretched Athens thin and making it fight two wars at the same time: one to keep its current empire and the other to expand it. Despite the decision being made by a vote of the assembly, the arguments in favor of it made by Alcibiades demonstrate the lack of rationality and hubris that had embraced Athens by then. His points of contention appeal to the citizens’ desires and hopes while ignoring facts. For example, he states that “unless we grow, we will decay” (The war that never ends), indicating that he and the Athenian people believe that growth is necessary to maintain their empire. Since growth will necessarily come at the expense of freedom of other cities, this statements demonstrates that being an empire forces Athens to sacrifice its democratic values by ignoring the freedom other states should have, such as Melos. On the other hand, the arguments of Nicias are ignored despite them being entirely rational. Thus, the decisions made by the assembly in light of the arguments presented by both sides demonstrate that empire built by the people of Athens had corrupted its inhabitants into ignoring rationality in favor of the necessity to maintain an empire. All of the